Inflation is not the main reason for increased home prices in Farmington

FARMINGTON, N.M. – Home prices aren’t just up in Albuquerque, the Four Corners has also seen a spike in demand for housing and it’s not necessarily because of inflation.

Lynzi Hathcock, Associate Broker for R1 New Mexico Farmington, has worked in real estate for 10 years, but in the last two, she has noticed some changes in San Juan County.

“A lot of out of state-ers come to our community which is great for our economy that has driven prices up a little bit more, Aztec- a lot of Durango people move into Aztec it’s cheaper for them it’s short commute people work for home now, so they are able to get out of the big city.”

Hathcock says in 2020 the average sale price was $207,000 now it’s $256,000, a 22% jump. And these listings are selling quicker than they can reproduce.

“We’re just looking diligently to find them those houses, today there is currently 116 houses available today to sell, and if we are selling 111 like we did in August that only leaves five extra houses,”  said Hathcock. 

If there is not enough supply the idea could be to just build more houses, however, Farmington runs into a bit of an issue.

“Our area is kind of unique because we have government-owned land you know BLM, BIA, there is only so much available for personal purchase,” Hathcock said.

She added that the city has seen plans for new housing developments however there are challenges with that “investors and subdividers are finding how expensive it is and how much more expensive it is lately to develop that land do to the terrain, you know the prime land been used.”

So for now, buyers have to be aggressive to lock in that deal.

“When we find that house we are putting in an offer along with 10, 15 other offers so if you want to win that bid you better be prepared,” Hathcock said.

Hathcock added that they have also seen an increase in cash offers over the last two years which is not common in the area.